


to drink of the divine

by Autumn_Ignited, SailUncharted



Category: Hades (Video Game 2018)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Drunken Confessions, Love Confessions, M/M, Missing Scene, Sharing a Bed, i guess, i'm not sure, is nectar alcoholic?, nectar in his room, or at least sitting on one, than asks zag to drink
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-22
Updated: 2020-10-22
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:34:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26997538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Autumn_Ignited/pseuds/Autumn_Ignited, https://archiveofourown.org/users/SailUncharted/pseuds/SailUncharted
Summary: Than makes an off-hand comment about drinking all the Nectar together that Zag gives him. It turns into a real invitation where the question of whether they’re more than friends gets answered in the secrecy of Than's chambers.
Relationships: Thanatos/Zagreus (Hades Video Game)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 90





	to drink of the divine

**Author's Note:**

> We have a Twitter [Autumn Ignited](https://twitter.com/AutumnIgnited) and [SailUnchartedWaters](https://twitter.com/SailUnchartd)

.⚱. 

“Later” was a lot sooner than he had anticipated. When Thanatos had asked Zagreus to his chambers so that they could finally drown their sorrows in Nectar, he wasn’t sure he’d even heard correctly. Before he could even respond, Thanatos disappeared in a flash of smoky wings. 

Left alone on the balcony overlooking Styx, he watched the blood-red water as it made its way to the Great Hall. The lingering scent of lilies and frankincense - beautiful and funereal as Thanatos himself - had been the only reassurance that the conversation was even real.

Zagreus blinked the green spots from his eyes, leftover from Than’s dramatic exit. 

It had been an invitation of sorts - the most he’d gotten out of the stoic god. There was no way he was going to let this opportunity slip through his fingers. This quest and his father had already stolen too much from him. 

“Why does my blood run wild when he’s around,” he asked the river. 

The river, in its ever-flowing course, was much too busy to answer the son of Hades.

Zagreus tisked at it, but it didn’t care. Well, there was only one way to work out this extra energy. A swift jaunt to the surface and a good murdering of his father should do it. 

_ Thanatos wanted to hang out.  _

That thought alone carried his sword and lightened his feet.

Not only did Than want to hang out, he wanted to drink.  _ Together _ . Like they used to. 

Could this mean he was finally forgiven for his trespasses? 

Stabbing another witch in the face didn’t give him an answer. Neither did smashing Theseus into the stadium floor. A pity, that - he was almost certain that would’ve done it. There were few greater joys in his godly life than delivering wrath square into Theseus’ smug face.

The crowd chanting his name as he left for the uppermost level of the underworld didn’t have the same spark of vigor it usually held.

All Zagreus could think about was the red flush of Thanatos’ cheeks and the dopey smile that always accompanied their drinking sessions. The almost unbearable intimacy of seeing him so soft and relaxed only made Zagreus’ blood run hotter.

The snow was cold under his flaming feet, but he couldn’t even feel it as he approached his father. He was strung too tight with anticipation. One run wouldn’t be enough. He’d need to switch to Malphon next so that he could feel the recoil of his violence. Maybe then, he could calm the racing of his heart.

.⚱.

The chambers of death were as morbid as Zagreus remembered. He hadn’t been here since Than had broken up with him during his first escape attempt, and the black laurels hanging from the walls next to golden tapestries of the damned were making his palms sweat. 

This was the first small scrap of kindness Than had shown him since that day, and all his old feelings were turning his feet cold. The fire barely even singe the ground where he stepped.

Thanatos’ door, engraved with skulls and wings with little scythes for handles, put the fear of death in him for the first time.

No wonder the mortals were so afraid; His wrath was nothing to mock. 

Zagreus rapped on the door. 

“You can come in; I’m not getting up,” came the voice from inside. 

With a sigh, Zagreus opened the door. The smell of frankincense hit him as he stepped into the dark room. Clay lekythos sat in all the corners with their precious oil filled to the brim. As rich as Charon was in gold, Thanatos was in the adornings of the dead. 

A pile of Nectar, all gifts from himself, sat at the foot of Than’s bed, but it was the wall scroll that caught his eye.

“Achilles, huh?” he ventured, trying for ‘casual’ and ‘unbothered.’ “I was going to buy that once I had enough gems.”

Thanatos didn’t look up from his book. Turning a page, he replied coolly, “I find it to be of some comfort that you apparently can’t have everything you want.”

“Yeah you do,” Zagreus muttered to himself. It had to be true, given that the one thing he missed the most was Than’s company and he was being very stingy with that indeed. 

“Look, Than, I’m-” He turned away from the scroll to face Thanatos, who in turn faced his book. “I’m sorry about all this leaving-without-telling-you business. I should’ve told you.”

“You really should have,” Thanatos agreed, turning another page. No way he was actually reading, then. Than always read slowly, enjoying each word for itself. “And still, you’ve yet to explain exactly why you felt you could not.” 

Zagreus swiped a hand through his thick hair, feeling it bounce back around his flaming laurel crown. He joined Than by the bed, but when no invitation was forthcoming, slid to the floor to stare down at the black rug. 

“No offense, Than, but you’re not the best conversationalist. Half the time I try to talk to you, you just-” Zagreus snapped his fingers. “And are gone. Plus, I knew you wouldn’t take it well.”

The soft  _ thmp  _ of the book snapping closed was accompanied by a much softer-sounding sigh. It was still another few seconds, electric with silence, before Than replied, “That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have tried. But nothing we can do about it now.”

“There  _ is _ one thing we could do.” Zagreus smirked up through his bangs to catch Than’s golden eyes. “We could drink to my mistakes.”

For the first time in a very long while, the sharp planes of Thanatos’ face cracked with a smile. It wasn’t much of one, but it was there, and that was a start. 

“Just this set of mistakes in particular, or should I compile a list?”

“I’m not answering that until I have at least three bottles of Nectar in me.” He stretched out across the floor to grab one of the many bottles and popped the cork. “Here, I got this for you. You should have the first sip.”

“So long as we agree to never mention again how easily my forgiveness was bought.” Thanatos accepted the bottle, but paused with it at his lips. “The  _ beginnings  _ of forgiveness, so we’re clear.”

“Clear as a contract with father.”

The blissful expression from the first sip of nectar soured on Than’s face. “Do me a favor, Zag. Let’s not talk about your father while in my bedroom.” 

“I can drink to that.” Zagreus took the bottle from Than and threw it back for a good couple of swallows. The bottle popped off as he panted to catch his breath from the rush, warm, tingly, and light. He couldn’t help smiling up at Than through the glow of the Nectar. “This is my first time having one for myself in forever. I always give them away. I’d forgotten they were so...” 

“Yes. That,” Than agreed, as if that actually explained it. He settled a little more easily against his pillows, and even the air around him relaxed a bit. “You’ll want to finish that, so you might as well hand me another.”

Zagreus, careful of the bottle already in his hand, reached over to grab another from the pile. He turned, a bright, drink-giddy smile plastered on his face. But he paused when the god of death didn’t take it.

Than’s gold eyes looked down at his coverlet. “You can just bring it here. To me. On the bed.”

“Oh.  _ Oh _ , right. Yes.” Zagreus didn’t enjoy lazing about on beds or resting in chairs, but if Thanatos was there, that’s where he wanted to be. He sat on the very edge of the mattress, weight mostly on his feet. “Here,” he said, holding the bottle out again.

Thanatos took it, fingertips ice cold where they brushed against his. He tilted his head a little, as if considering the collision of colors between his moonlight skin, Zag’s hand, and the glass vessel full of iridescent orange. 

“I missed you, you know,” Than murmured, like a secret to his bedclothes. 

It hurt. Zagreus didn’t like to let things get to him and did his best to deflect when they did. But his father had been extra cruel recently and while he had made a mistake by not telling Than, it had been unbearable without him. He was owed this bit of honesty, at the least. 

“For what it’s worth, I missed you too.” He took another swallow before he could look at Than. 

He studied the sharp bones of his cheeks and the fall of silver hair into his golden eyes. He was every bit as gorgeous as his mother. The same darkness shimmered in him, exactly like the night sky.

_ Or more brilliantly,  _ said the drink loosening his tongue. 

“And now that I’m staying I hope I won’t have to miss you ever again.” 

“That depends on a few things, My Lord Prince.” Than lifted his gaze until their eyes locked, his focus sharp and subdued as a barely-contained storm. 

“What kinds of things, Death Incarnate?” Heat spread from his cheeks down to his chest under Thanatos’ gaze. Zagreus wiggled his toes, hoping some of the fire would burn away his blush.

Than watched him, but that wasn’t an accurate description for what passed between them. He  _ watched  _ \- gaze fixated and intent with all the brightness of the harvest moon behind his eyes. 

Slowly, he took a long swallow, licking an errant drop from the corner of his lips. 

“How willing you are to back up that promise. Words are very pretty, but without action behind them, they’re little more than poetry.”

“I  _ have _ been learning much from Orpheus.” And yes, he was doing the whole deflecting thing. He was dancing around his answer and that was a very dangerous game with death. For all of Zagreus’ flippantness, Thanatos seemed to be equally as stoic.

Than chuckled, surprisingly warm for someone whose touch could leave behind frost. “For my part, then, I promise not to glance behind.”

“That’s comforting, I guess.” Zagreus settled further into the mattress and therefore closer to Thanatos’ chill. It was bliss to his over-hot skin. It was like stepping into the snow on the surface; like a quest fulfilled, but deeper; like Zagreus’ very core was settled around Thanatos. “If you don’t like words, then are you asking for action?”

“Don’t make me ask outright. You owe me that much at least.”

Zagreus tightened his grip around the bottle. That was as much permission as he’d ever received from the god of death himself. He was getting quite lucky in that department as of late.

“Then, you promise you won’t vanish?” he asked as he reached across the expanse of blankets and pillows that divided them. His fingers brushed Than’s and it made his fiery toes curl.

Than’s fingers lifted and splayed, making room for him until they interlocked, woven together in a meandros of dusk and dawn.

“Do you remember when you asked me what it was between us? If we were only friends,” Zagreus switched between staring at Than’s golden eyes to his Nectar-sweetened lips as he ran his fingers over Thanatos’ tomb-chilled skin. 

“I do...and does this mean you have an answer for me?”

With all the confidence he could muster as the prince of the underworld, which wasn’t actually all that much, Zagreus whispered, “More than a friend.”

Than held still, his face betraying nothing, but a flicker of something imperceptible flashed through his eyes.

“That’s your answer,” he said more confidently, “- more than a friend.” Leaning in, Zagreus chased after a cold more consuming than even Demeter’s winter. “I’m not sure how, but I think one of Eros’ stray arrows must’ve struck me. Please tell me he was not so cruel as to refrain from firing its twin?”

The carved marble of Than’s lips curled into a smile, softer than he’d ever seen. “I may have noticed the prick of a new wound.” 

Zagreus didn’t remember letting go of the bottle of Nectar, but his hand was empty as he pressed it to Thanatos’ chest. He ran his thumb over the soft robe and hard bone where, had he been mortal, his heart would’ve beat. 

He could smell the Nectar on Thanatos’ breath as it mixed with the heady incense of death. 

“Than, I-” 

Not words, words were better left to those with muses guiding their lips. All he had was a stubborn impetus to press forward. So he did.

He captured death on his lips as he gripped Than’s tunic, more out of the need to make sure he wouldn’t disappear than to pull him closer. The god of death tasted like Nectar wine and the way that white lilies smell. It was more filling than ambrosia and sweeter than Aphrodite’s blessings. It made his blood rush in his ears and the flames of his feet reach up to his calves.

When they broke, Thanatos chased after him, keeping him still with a hand around the back of his neck. “Don’t light my bedclothes on fire, Little Lord, or I won’t invite you back.”

All the gods on Olympus had their various names that they called him, but none of them made his heart sing the way Thanatos did. “I can get you an eternity’s worth of bedclothes. I am the prince after all.”

“Mmm.” Than tilted his neck, exposing it with a raised eyebrow and the ghost of a smirk. “Then it would be a shame to replace these without thoroughly ruining them first.” 

Zagreus didn’t need any more invitation. He pressed Than down, following him as he traced his neck with kisses. 

The sheets singed under his feet, burning holes into the expensive fabric. It'd cost him another run up to the surface to collect all the gems he needed to replace them, but he'd happily repeat it for eternity if it meant he could kiss Than like this. 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Autumn: I have literally never played this game before, but Sail made sad puppy eyes and asked me if I would be Death. And like - golly, I thought you’d never ask. 
> 
> Anyway, two Youtube videos’ worth of research later, this was my best shot. Hope it’s not totally off track 
> 
> Sail: So i'm OBSESSED with this game and as soon as than invited zag to drink I KNEW I needed that scene, lucky for me I have that power muahahah
> 
> there's more little lines that I wanna do one shots for. I'm at than's last heart so if HE'D JUST SHOW HIS CUTE FACE i could finish his route :(( 
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this! I might write smut next :x
> 
> Check us both out on Twitter [Autumn Ignited](https://twitter.com/AutumnIgnited) and [SailUnchartedWaters](https://twitter.com/SailUnchartd)


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